Improved oar-brake



@einen @aus atrat @ffies WILLARD H. SMITHV ANDJOSEPH srnenn., or NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 74,860,0Zatc0l February 25, 1868.

IMPROVED GAR-BRAKE.

TO ALL WIIOM IT MAY CONGERN:

Be it known that we, WILLARD H. SMITH and JOSEPH STEGER, ofthe city, county, and State of New York,

vhave made new and useful Improvements in Car-Brakes; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, sutcient to enable others skilled in the art to which our invention nppertains to understand and use the same, reference heinghad to the accompanying' drawings, which make part of this speeication, and in whichv i Figure 1 is a bottom view of a car-truck, with my improved brake attached, and

Figure 2 is a detached view of the rotating-device.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the tivo figures.

The nature of our invention consists in a novel application of a cam-motion, which is made to act upon rollers attached to the brakes, and by means of which the brakes maybe set instantaneously, and withla powerf ful strain, and less labor than'is required in setting the lever-brakes now in common use.

A, in the drawings, may represent the bottom of a. car. B B and C C are the wheels, the axles D and E of which are secured in the usual manner. F F represent the bars, to which the brakes are attached, and which are hung from the bottom of the car A. "G G are hangers, in which are the bearings of the shaft H; these hangers are attached to the bottom of the Acar A. Secured on the shaft are the cams I I', either by being keyed on the shaft, o1' in any other equivalent manner. -The cams I I consist of the straight circular lpart t', which expands, as shown at and the cam proper z'z, a groove, j, being formed between the part t" and the cam i. Running in the grooves j, and attached to the same, are the ropes or chains L, which,after passing over horizontal grooved rollers g, are attached to the brake-rods f,'by means of whichthoy are operated. Attached to the bars vF F are bearings e e and e e', for the rollers d d', against which the cams proper, 2, operate. One end of straight spring K is securely fastened to the bottom of the car,'its'free end being connected to either cam on the shaftl by a rope or chain, c, in such a manner, that .when the earn has been-rotated by means of the brake-rods, and the spring become bent, it will rotate the shaft back to its original position, when the brake-rods are released. Instead of a straight spring, we may use a spiral or any other one, tig. 2 showing an example in which a spiral one is applied. Springs b help to relieve the brakes from the wheels.

The operation is as follows: When the brake-rodsf are turned they wind up the chains h, which rotate' the cams I I', and as, in the normal condition, the narrow'cst parts ofthe cams proper, i2, rest against the rollers' d d', the cams z'press, as they are rotated, against the rollers cl il, and force the brake-bars F F', to which the rollers are attached, against the wheels. It will be easily understood, that by means of our device the brakes will act instantaneously, as the cfa-.ns proper, il, begin to press the brakes against .the wheels as-soon as the cams I I are rotated by the brake-rods f, and it will be as clearly understood, that by the cam-motion a greater and surer power is exerted Von the brakes, with much less labor, than is now attained by greater exertion in the levermotion, as levers are continually liable to sp1-ing and bccomcinei'fective. Our brakes are equally applicable to Vrailroad-cars, street-cars, and wherever brakes are used.

Having thus described ourv invention, whatwe claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

'Ihe combination of the spring K, cams II', constructed as described, ropes or chains h, and pulleys g, substantially as and for the purposes described. A l

- y A W. H. SMITH,

JOSEPH STEGER.

Witnesses:

Juntos BROWN, GEO. A. Saenunoiirn. 

